


All I Ever Wanted (It Comes With A Price)

by Leviarty



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 09:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5122640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leviarty/pseuds/Leviarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets shot. Again. Danny is not okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I Ever Wanted (It Comes With A Price)

His hands were shaking, bloody, his shirt torn and stained red.

The EMTs had let him ride along in the ambulance, so long as he stayed out of the way, but once they reached the hospital, they wheeled Steve beyond big doors that read “NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL” in loud lettering, told him to stay behind, wait.

He wasn’t very good at waiting.

He tried to sit in a chair, but his legs shook too much, his heart was racing to fast to sit still. He paced back and forth across the hall, jumping every time the doors opened. But none of them carried news intended for him.

He keeled over, let out a shuddering breath. He felt like his lungs were filling up with blood, when Steve was the one riddled with holes.

“Hey,” Chin said, surprising him. Danny almost jumped out of his skin.

“Grace,” Danny said. “Grace, is she okay?” God, how could she have slipped his mind?

 

 

_The call comes in mid-morning, and Five-0 get into their cars and race down the street faster than they think humanly possible. Steve is driving, disobeying dozens of traffic laws, if not more, and Danny is in the passenger seat, shouting at him to drive faster._

_A heavily armed crew had broken into the school, taken hostages, taken Grace._

_“Split up, cover the entrances,” Steve said._

_They get the call before SWAT arrives, before a hostage negotiator is in. But Grover handles is like a pro. They tell them, under no uncertain terms, is anyone to enter the building._

_“Is anyone injured?” Grover asks. “Are the hostages okay?”_

_“For now,” the scrambled voice says. “But if I see one person approach these doors, kids start dying.”_

_“Oh god,” Danny says, felling bile work its way up._

_“That won’t be necessary, I promise you. Just tell me what it is you want?”_

_“$600,000 in unmarked bills,” they say. And a chopper, and guarantee that they won’t be followed. “And a couple pizzas to keep the kids quiet.”_

_“Alright,” Grover said. “We can get that for you, but it’ll take some time. I need your word that those kids will remain unharmed.”_

_“You have two hours.”_

_The pizza arrives within minutes, someone had called it in before they even arrived on the scene, and Steve is telling the delivery kid to hand over his shirt and the pizza. He strips out of his tack vest and shirt, drops his badge and belt and gun on the hood of the car._

_“What are you doing?” Danny asks._

_“Vest is too bulky,” Steve says, putting the kid’s shirt. It smells faintly of pot, but no one seems to care. Steve ran a hand through his hair, mussing it. If his goal is to not look like a cop, he’d have better luck with a few more tattoos and piercings, but no one else plays the part better, and no one else is better at sneaking in and taking people out if necessary. Danny knows there’s no one in the world he’d rather have looking out for his daughter._

_Lou calls up the hostage takers, tells them the pizza is here, asks if it’s okay to proceed._

_They can see one of the guys approach the window, and one look at Kono tells him she’s got the shot lined up, but they can’t take the risk, not when there is a kid in his arms playing human shield, not when they don’t know how many guys there are._

_“No cops,” the hostage taker says._

_“No cops,” Lou assured him. “Just one of Al’s delivery boys.”_

_“Let me see him.”_

_Steve steps into view, hands held up, as he tries to imitate the swagger of a high school dropout turned delivery driver. He lifts his shirt to show that he isn’t packing._

_“Alright, he can approach. No one else.”_

_And the walk from the police line to the front doors is the longest ever. Danny paces, running his hands through his hair._

_Steve disappears into the school, and through his ear piece they can only make out a few staticy words._

_Not knowing – he thinks he’s going to vomit._

_Then shit hits the fan, they have no idea what went wrong, what’s happening, all they know is shots are being fired._

_“MOVE IN!” Grover shouts, and they’re running._

_He’s got tunnel vision, searching for Grace, he doesn’t see all the other kids, doesn’t see Grover take out two bad guys, doesn’t see Kono’s bullets take out the gunman behind him, doesn’t see anything between the front doors and the gym._

_“Grace? GRACE?”_

_There are two gunmen, both down, one with a hole centered in his forehead, the other bleeding out from the chest. Danny kicks the second guy’s machine gun out of his hands, just in case._

_And there was Grace, kneeling next to Steve, his gun fallen next to them._

_“Grace, monkey, are you okay?” he asks, eyes scanning the crowd for any other threats before he holsters his gun._

_“I’m okay, Danno,” she says. “But Steve…” Her hands are pressed against his chest and there is blood everywhere._

_Danny pressed his hands down next to her, shouted for EMTs._

 

 

“Grace is fine,” Chin said. “Kono is taking her home to get her cleaned up and changed. She’s okay.”

“Good, good.”

“Come on,” Chin said, placing his hand on Danny’s back. It was a small comfort. “Let’s get you cleaned up too.”

Danny didn’t want to walk away, in case someone had news, but allowed Chin to lead him into the bathrooms. Danny didn’t have a scratch on him, but Chin was ginger with every movement, carefully helped him wash his hands and arms, dabbed at the blood drying on his forehead. He even helped him out of his shirt, which felt a little silly until he realized that Chin had brought along a spare, taken from the trunk of the Camaro – it was one of Steve’s, because Danny had used his backup a couple days ago and forgotten to replace, but Steve always kept a few too many.

 

 

Back in the waiting room, Danny sat down, closed his eyes, and rested his head against the wall, trying desperately to calm down. Steve had survived worse, he would survive this.

Except, he didn’t know if it was true this time. To his knowledge, Steve had never taken a dozen shots to the chest. If he had, Danny never wanted to hear about it.

“Danno?” a small voice said.

Danny’s eyes flew open. “Hey, monkey.” He tried to smile, but fell short. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to make sure Steve was okay.”

“We haven’t heard anything yet,” Chin said.

“Hey, Grace?” Kono said. “Do you think you could keep any eye on your dad while I talk to uncle Chin?” She made eye contact with Chin and jerked her head to the side. He followed her just out of ear shot and they talked in hushed voices for a few minutes before returning.

 

 

Grace had mostly fallen asleep resting against Danny, but he was nowhere near rest, not in the same zip code as calm.

“Detective Williams?”

Danny opened his eyes and almost jumped out of his chair, only just remembering that Grace was there. He eased her over, then stood to meet the doctor. A glance at the clock told him it had been over seven hours since he’d gone into surgery.

“Is he okay?”

The woman half nodded. “He’s out of surgery, but we’re keeping him in intensive care until we’re sure he’s out of the woods.”

“Can I – Can we see him?”

“He’s sedated for the moment, but you can check on him for a few minutes.”

Danny woke Grace and walked with her, hand in hand, up to Steve’s room.

“Wait here just a minute, okay?” he said, leaving her outside his door.

The moment he walked in, he knew it was the right decision, because the site before him made him rush into the adjoined bathroom and empty his stomach before returning to Steve’s side. He’s unconscious, with a breathing tube shoved down his throat. Under the gown, he knew there were dozens of bandages, though he could only see hints of them. He might have looked okay, if not for the tube.

“Okay, monkey,” he said, walking into the hall once he’d regained some semblance of composure. “It’s a little scary,” he said. “He’s got a breathing tube and he’s all bandaged up. You don’t have to go in right now, if you don’t want.” He wasn’t sure he wanted her to.

“No, I want to see him.”

He nodded and took her hand again, letting her walk in a little ahead of him.

She gasped a little, and jammed her eyes shut at the sight of him. There was a moment, in which Danny considered scooping her up and taking her back out, before she opened her eyes again and took a few steps toward him. “Is he… is he gonna be okay?”

“I don’t know,” he said. There are some lies he knew he was supposed to tell, to protect her from hurt, but he didn’t know how to tell this one. “The doctors need some time to figure it out. Mostly he needs to rest. So we can’t stay long, okay?” He wasn’t sure his heart could take much more of this anyway.

“Can I give him a kiss?”

He nodded. “I’m sure that will help lots. Just be careful, okay?”

She tiptoed closer to the bed, then leaned forward and planted a kiss on his forehead, careful to not touch him anywhere else, or bump the tube.

 

 

“Hey, kiddo,” Chin said, he and Kono walking up to the room just as Danny and Grace were walking back out. “I think it’s time we get you back to your mom, don’t you?”

Grace nodded slowly and took Chin’s outstretched hand. Danny and Kono watched them walk away, and it wasn’t until they were at the other end of the hall that Danny spoke.

“What do we know?”

“You sure you wanna hear this now?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She gave him the rundown, skipping over the things he already knew and things that didn’t matter. “Five gunmen, all dead. None of them are in the system; Grover and Jerry are still trying to ID them and figure out motive. Did Grace tell you anything?”

Danny blinked, trying to remember. If she had said anything, he didn’t remember, hadn’t heard. He shook his head.

“Okay, it looks like Steve was made by one of the gunmen in the gym. Rather than shoot Steve, he turned on the nearest kid in the room… Grace. He was… he was going to pull the trigger.” Going to kill her.

Danny leaned against the nearest wall and leaned over. If there was anything left in his stomach, he would have lost it.

“Steve got between her and the shooter just in time. He got off one shot before he was down.”

“One,” Danny repeated, shaking his head. “Both guys were out when I got there.” There wasn’t a lot he was sure about today, but he was sure of that much.

“Yeah. Just one. Headshot, dead instantly. But Steve was already shot, dropped his gun and fell. Grace was right behind him. She… God, Danny, I don’t even know if I should be telling you this right now.”

“Tell me _what_?”

“She picked up the gun and hit the other shooter, twice in the chest.”

Danny stared at her, lost, for a long moment before sinking to the ground in shock.

“It was incredibly quick thinking, and a very lucky shot,” Kono said. “If she hadn’t… Grace and every kid in that room are okay because she didn’t hesitate.”

 

 

Kono drove him to his apartment, walked him in, then left him alone. It was empty, and too quiet, and he wished she’d brought him to the office, where at least there was noise and company and he could maybe feel like he was helping.

Instead he was left alone with only his thoughts for company.

There was still blood under his nails, still some dried to his scalp, the few spots Chin had missed.

He turned on the shower, stripped down, then stepped under the scalding water.

Steve had always been like this, been reckless and wild since day one, and Danny had hated it all along, hated every time he threw himself in harm’s way. And this time was no different. He’d gone in with no vest, one concealed weapon, nothing but luck to back him up, and today luck hadn’t been on his side.

But every single kid was alive and well, so maybe luck had been there after all.

And Grace, god, his precious baby was okay, and he was so damn grateful. He could hardly be angry with Steve when he’s the reason she was okay.

Except he _was_ angry.

Because this would never have been a price he’d choose to pay. Grace was the number one most important thing in his life, and he’d give anything to see her okay.

But he never wanted this.

He tried his hardest not to think about Grace with a gun in her hands, her tiny perfect hands. He tried not to remember the look of her kneeling next to Steve, her hands and dress covered in his blood.

He reminded himself that everything would be okay, that Grace was alive and well and that was all that mattered.

He tried not to think about what he might lose in return.

 

 

He stayed in the shower until his fingers turned to prunes, until the water ran cold, until he felt numb to the world. He went through the motions of toweling off and combing his hair and buttoning on Steve’s shirt before seeking out clean pants and falling into bed. He tried to sleep, but only managed to lie there with his eyes closed for a few hours.

 

 

“Do you love him, Danno?”

“Number two most important thing in my world,” he told her, because there was no point in pretending otherwise. Not now.

“Does he know?”

Danny shook his head. “It’s not so easy.”

“You tell me you love me all the time. And you used to tell mom you loved her.”

“It’s different. Loving him is…” It was hard, because Steve was a reckless animal, was a Navy boy through and through, was cagey when it came to any emotion that wasn’t anger. Most importantly, Steve was his boss, his partner, and a man, not someone Danny was quick to confess his feelings for. How did he explain that in words that she would understand? “It’s complicated.”

She frowned in confusion, but hugged him tightly. It’s the kind of hug that made everything okay, but didn’t make this okay.  “I love him too,” she said. “Like you and mom.”

“And Stan,” Danny added.

“Yeah, but more than Stan.” Danny might have laughed, might have had some smug comment, if he had any ability to feel happiness or joy right now. Grace held him even tighter. “I don’t want him to die.”

“Me neither, Monkey.” He swore he wouldn’t cry in front of her, that he’d keep it together for her, but he failed.

 

 

“You’re an idiot,” he said to Steve. Steve, who was still unresponsive after three days, who was barely more than stable. “Going in, half cocked like always. And I can’t even be properly angry at you because you got her out of there alive. God I hate you. I wish I hated you.”

 

 

Steve stirred, groaned. His eyes started to move behind their lids.

Danny jumped up and pressed the call button, shouting for a nurse, for someone, anyone.

Steve was waking up, half-panicked by the tube shoved down his throat.

“Just relax,” the nurse said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, easy.” He gripped the tube and pulled, removing it as gently as he could, though it still probably hurt like hell. Steve let out several hoarse coughs once it was gone. A second nurse held a cup of water up to his mouth, the straw pointed to him. He took a few careful sips before waving her away.

“Gracie?” he asked, his voice scratchy.

“She’s okay,” Danny said, nodding. “Everyone is okay.” Everyone but you. Danny wished he could punch him.

“Everything looks okay,” the nurse said, jotting down a few notes in his chart before dropping it in the pocket at the foot of the bed. “Your doctor will be in shortly to do a more thorough check.”

Steve nodded thanks, but never took his eyes off Danny.

“She’s okay?” he asked.

“Yes, she’s fine,” Danny repeated. “She’ll drop in after school. You, however, are not okay. Eight shots. Eight. And I’m not convinced that you’re okay in the head. No sane person jumps head first into these situations. You have more in common with swiss cheese than you have with a normal person.”

“But she’s okay.”

“God, are you even listening?! Do you have a death wish?”

“’Course not. But I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her because of me. You’d never forgive me. You and her… you’re the most important things in my life.”

“It’s not just… not just about her. It’s everyone. You are so willing to die _all the time_. Isn’t there anything worth _living_ for?”

“You. Her.” He eyes drifted closed. After first Danny thought it was exhaustion, that he was going to fall back to sleep, but then he realized that it wasn’t that at all. Steve didn’t want to see Danny’s reaction.

Danny put one hand on Steve’s cheek and kissed the side of his mouth lightly. “Then can you stop with the Rambo act? Stop jumping to sacrifice yourself at every chance, and actually live for us. We need you here.” His voice was soft now, no longer filled with the half-hearted anger he’d been feeling a moment before.

“It was me or her,” he said, holding onto Danny’s hand. “No choice there.”

“I know, and I am so grateful that she’s okay. But everyone else-”

“I’ll try not to jump in front of bullets for anyone else,” Steve promised.

“Thank you.”

Danny sat down, pulling the chair a little closer with one hand, while the other still clutched at Steve’s.

“She shot one of them,” He said after a while. “Grace.” She shot him, twice, in the chest, and he bled out on the way to the hospital. Danny didn’t know if he could repeat any of that without losing his stomach again. “And then she put pressure on your wounds.” He let out something like a laugh. “Which is hard when you’re swiss cheese and she’s got tiny hands. But she tried so hard.”

“Damn.”

“She… well, she wasn’t exactly calm, but I’m amazed at how well she handled it. Amazed and proud and a little scared.”

 

 

“Steve!” Grace exclaimed from the doorway, her demeanor shifting in an instant. She ran toward him, then stopped at the edge of his bed, holding back. “Can I give you a hug?”

“I would love that,” he said, smiling.

“Ghost hug,” Danny said, which Steve thought was the special hug reserved for people with life threatening injuries. She carefully laid her head against his chest and hugged him very, very lightly.

“She wanted to check in,” Rachel said from the door. “I hope that’s alright.”

“More than alright,” Steve said.

“I love you, Steve,” Grace told him.

“I love you too,” he said.

“Thank you. For saving me,” she said.

“What are you thanking me for? I hear you’re the one responsible for keeping all my blood inside where it belongs.”

“I think the doctors did that,” she said, rolling her eyes a little.

“We should be going,” Rachel said.

“But I wanna stay. Just for a little while.”

“Gimme a minute with mom, okay, Monkey?” Danny stepped into the hall with Rachel. He didn’t want to make her look like a bad guy if she said no, not when they’ve been getting along reasonably well for a while. “I can bring her back by the house in a few hours, if it’s okay.”

Rachel thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

“I’m going to take care of some errands,” she told Grace. “Be good for Danny and Uncle Steve.”

Grace nodded vigorously, then pulled a chair closer to Steve’s bed. “How do you feel?” she asked. “What does being shot feel like?”

“It feels terrible. 10/10 Steves do not recommend it,” Steve said.

“I’d like to know why ten Steves are being shot, and propose some kind of relief fund to ensure that no more are wounded,” Danny said.

“You guys are silly,” she said, shaking her head.

“Being shot hurts a lot and you should never do it,” Steve said seriously.

“I’m sorry you got shot for me.”

“Never apologize for that. I’m just glad you’re okay. And my two favorite people here, so I’ll be better in no time.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely.”

**Author's Note:**

> Vaguely insp. by Cat and Mouse by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.


End file.
